1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, and recording medium storing a program,
2. Background Art
Recently, a printer driver known as a universal driver that includes multiple modes specific to models and changes operation in accordance with a connected model has been made available. The universal driver includes multiple model files specific to models in the driver package and implements operations specific to each model.
Also, a technology that facilitates getting and installing a new version of a driver in case a new model is released has been proposed (e.g., JP-2009-025865-A.) In the technology described in JP-2009-025865-A, a universal driver that supports a new model by adding a model file that defines the new model without updating core of the universal driver itself is presented.
In addition to the technology described in JP-2009-025865-A, a Point and Print technology provided by an Operation System (OS) is well known. The Point and Print technology facilitates connection to a remote printer in a client environment by providing all files and configuration information to the client from a print server.
If a printer driver is installed in the Point and Print environment described above, model information configured by the server is stored in a registry, and the model information is inherited in the client. In case a selected model is changed and the model information file is updated, the updated driver file is inherited by the client from the server, content of the registry is updated, and the latest information is inherited by the client each time.
However, in the universal driver that can utilize a new model by adding the model file described above, a problem can occur in case of applying the Point and Print technology. In the Point and Print environment of Windows Vista(trademark) or later, if a driver in a server is updated, it becomes possible to select either to update a driver configuration file in a client or to maintain the existing environment without updating. Consequently, because updating in the client can be done independently of the server, the version of a driver core can become different in each client environment.
If the update is not performed in the client, the latest driver configuration file is not inherited in the client. Meanwhile, the content of the registry is maintained as the latest status. Consequently, compatibility can be lost due to the difference in updating status between the driver configuration file and the registry information. Also, since the client configuration is sent to the server if the client is the administrator, compatibility can be lost by overwriting the server configuration with the client configuration due to the difference in updating status. If compatibility is lost, a mismatch can occur in displaying user interface (UI), possibly preventing normal printing.